


And so the outside

by bothsidesnow



Series: Life down below [2]
Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Angst, F/M, Inspired by Hades and Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 17:00:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29687088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bothsidesnow/pseuds/bothsidesnow
Summary: She was like a fire kindled in him, burning warmly until she had to go and he was left chasing her dying heat.-----------Feyre and Rhysand as Persephone and Hades, leaving each other in the Spring
Relationships: Feyre Archeron/Rhysand
Series: Life down below [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2181612
Comments: 8
Kudos: 44





	And so the outside

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written in a looong time so I would love feedback! :)  
> Title is from Bashed Out, by This is the kit

It was painful when she left, even if it wasn’t the first time. To have six beautiful months together, a life he hadn’t known how much he wanted or _needed_.

Six months of waking up together, of small touches and jokes at breakfast. Six months of laughter and dancing and unexpected moments. Feyre had made light and joy and colour fix itself into every crevice of his life.

Six months with her was long enough to forget what it felt like to be alone, but it wasn’t long enough in those months of solitude to relieve the fierceness of her absence.

He had awoken before her that morning, knowing it was the last one for a while, and taken in every part of her scent, the way she curled on the sheets into his body, the bright brass of her hair in the rising morning sun. It only hurt later, to remember what it was like to wake up with her, but the sharp pain of loneliness was better than forgetting that there was a whole other world coming in time, where for a brief moment he would have everything he could wish for.

He roused her with soft kisses trailing on softer skin. On this morning always he wanted to leave her with sweet memories of him.

He knew that back with her sisters in that bountiful world Above, they would claim it was some wicked magic he had corrupted her with when she longed for him. He knew there would be little comfort for her hurt, if anyone ever saw it. He gave her sweet kisses to keep the nagging doubts at bay – something to cling to when, deep into summer and months since they had last seen each other, she started to question that maybe he was the dark twisted soul they whispered about.

He needed to give her those lingering good memories, for his own sanity’s sake, he needed to believe that she would not come back to him with regret.

She gave him honeyed kisses back, a quiet morning in rapture with one another. Delicate like spun sugar.

“I don’t want to go,” Feyre whispered. Rhys stroked her hair back from her face with a heart-breaking smile.

“You must, my love.”

He knew that really, she missed her sisters – unlike him, Feyre had two lives that she wanted. Above, life for her was bustling, full of biting arguments and sisterly love in equal measure. The sun shone brightly there, not like the weak light of day with Rhys, which was far outdone by the brilliant starry nights of his Kingdom. She always returned with sun-kissed skin as though she had grasped every warm moment she could.

“I wish you could come with me. I wish they knew you.”

Rhys allowed himself to imagine for a moment what it would be like to bask in that same sun, to have the love of Feyre’s family. To be seen as something other than a monster. It was a dream that could never be his. All he could respond was, “I know.”

It didn’t stop him from wanting.

It was cruel of the world to give them half of a perfect life, and no way to make those halves meet. But he couldn’t leave his Kingdom, and Feyre could not stay forever without forsaking the world Above to barrenness, and so they took what they could. He would rather have a fraction of life with her than nothing at all.

Until Feyre, he had never desired anything other than his moonlit land, with its galaxies spangled across the sky, and the company of his few friends. It had never before seemed bleak. She had breathed a new kind of life into him, changing everything with two seemingly inconsequential pomegranate seeds.

She was like a fire kindled in him, burning warmly until she had to go and he was left chasing her dying heat.

When it was time, they took the familiar path to meet Feyre’s sisters. They had walked it together at least a dozen times, and he could remember everything about each – the hushed goodbyes and their fleeting touches. She had never walked it alone, but he returned every year to an empty house, only to walk it again six months later battling the anticipation and anxiety of seeing her again. Leaving her never became easier. The hardest had been the year they had fought the night before, and knowing they had parted bitterly had gnawed at him every single morning waiting for her return.

He dreaded the approaching light; it always came too soon.

At the mouth of the path, strong sunlight spilling into the shadows, he pressed her to the wall. They kissed deeply, as though he wanted her taste to linger on his lips for days. She looked intently at him with those silver-blue eyes, the light reflecting off them like a knife cutting her emotions into his heart. She threaded her fingers through his in between them.

“When I return I will love you just the same, more even, than I do now, Rhys.” He loosed a shuddering breath, resting his forehead against hers. Somehow, she could always see the depths of his fear. She never stopped trying to pull him out of it.

He was always waiting for the year that she came back seeing him like all the others. Every year, Feyre’s sisters saw him try to bestow all the love he possibly could before she left, and all they saw in him was some egoistic need to possess. As if he had ever wanted that, as if he didn’t ache with every hour apart.

“Until next time, my love,” and he brought her hand up to his lips to kiss.

But every pain was worth it, because as she stepped out into the light, he saw her bathed in that golden glow and thought – _beautiful_.


End file.
